Hose Bibb Lock prevents water theft, unauthorized Slip ‘n’ Slide activation

I’ve just learned two things: you can buy a $14 “Hose Bibb Lock to prevent nogoodniks from stealing your water; and the spigots on the sides of houses (or, I presume, any building) are called “silcocks”. [via Toolmonger]

1. [Anonymous]

   Banks use these to prevent people next door to foreclosed properties from “borrowing” the tap to water their lawns for free.

   It’s especially a problem in places like Las Vegas or Florida where irrigation of lawns is a requirement to keep them green.

2. [markfrei]

   Well we had an issue with homeless guys jumping our fence and using our outdoor spigot. I didn’t care if they took water – just that they’d leave it half on and the water would flood the side of my house overnight! To solve that we just keep a long hose with a spray head that you squeeze for water. So far no one has left it on now that we changed it.

3. [technogeek]

   #2: Elegant solution.

4. [Anonymous]

   I have a sick mind, so to me the picture looks like some kind of male chastity belt sextoy…for steampunk sexbots, I gues…

5. [InsertFingerHere]

   Older homes up North usually have a shut-off valve inside the house, just on the other side of the tap. Keeps the line from freezing in the winter. The tech has changed since then. A newer home might be blessed with a water system manifold, and you can turn on or off any fixture in/out the house from one location.

   I thought the picture would make a good promo for router security.

6. [overunger]

   Ha-ha …. silcocks.

7. [dculberson]

   Nowadays we northerners have frost-free sillcocks! Ahh, the march of technology, continually improving our sillcocks.

8. [Agies]

   My house doesn’t even have a silcock. I presume the previous owners connected their hose to the utility sink and ran it out the nearby door.

9. [Moriarty]

   #4: That’s what I immediately thought: “If water theft is such a problem, then why not just close the interior valve when not in use?” Didn’t occur to me that only “older homes up north” have such a common sense feature, but I’ll take your word for it.

10. [Anonymous]

    Take a phillips screwdriver. Remove the handle. Access denied. Duh.

11. [mujadaddy]

    I need these for my kids.

12. [akbar56]

    taking the handle off doesn’t stop access anon.

    Someone with a pair of pliers can still turn on the faucet. duh.

13. [hectorinwa]

    From the looks of this thing, IT won’t even stop pliers…

14. [Anonymous]

    I’m ordering two of these now. I made the mistake of buying a competing product, the “Faucetlock II” (aka Flowlock). Within a few weeks, one of those Flowlocks seized up and became utterly useless to me. I hope these units are of higher quality.